Our Genealogy Helper
Introduction ...
We have a couple of goals for our Gazetteer:
- That it be a tool which helps us with planning our trips.
- We're trying to shape our Gazetteer as a tool to help us understand the community in which our ancestors lived, the community that was part of their daily lives.
- On our trips, we try to visit those places where our ancestors left their footprints.
By learning about Portal (and the surrounding area) during the time that our ancestors lived, we hope to have a better understanding of both their community and its relationship to their lifes. We hope that this tool helps to give us an insight into their world.
As we add data and organize our Gazetteer to help with our family research, we will be adding to this our Genealogical Helper for Portal. While we don't have information that is specific to any given person or family, we intend to expand our understanding about where and how people lived.
Neighboring Counties ...
When searching for family records, we have frequently made the mistake of not checking the neighboring counties.
For example, we have great-grandparents who lived in the northeast corner of their home county. During their lives, most hospitals were in the next county to the east. Almost all of the nearby churches and cemeteries were in the county to the north.
So when searching for records, we had our best success by looking in neighboring counties instead of the county in which they lived: their home county contained property and probate records; the county to the east contained birth and death records; the county to the north contained their burial records. If we hadn't included the neighboring counties, we would have missed many valuable sources of information.
If you're in a similar situation, we hope that the following information helps.
Portal is located in Jefferson County.
To see how the shape of Montana's counties may have changed over time, we recommend the Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.
The following counties adjoin and form the boundaries of Jefferson County: Broadwater, Deer Lodge, Gallatin, Lewis and Clark, Madison, Powell & Silver Bow.
Below are the counties that are near Portal. For each of these counties, we show a sample of those communities that are closest to Portal:
- Jefferson County (The home county of Portal)
- The following are listed by their distance from Portal, with the one closest to Portal listed first.
- Comet ‑ Historic
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- Comet is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Comet
- Comet has also been known as:
- High Ore
- Jefferson City
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Boulder
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Basin
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Elkhorn
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Elkhorn is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkhorn
- Alhambra
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Alhambra is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alhambra
- Clancy
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Bernice
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Bernice is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bernice
- Montana City
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
- Elk Park
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- Elk Park is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk Park
- Woodville
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the southwest)
- Woodville is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Woodville
- Pipestone Hot Springs
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
- Pipestone Hot Springs is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pipestone Hot Springs
- Pipestone
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the south)
- Pipestone is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Pipestone
- Broadwater County
- The following are listed by their distance from Portal, with the one closest to Portal listed first.
- Winston
(23 miles [37 km] to the northeast)
- Radersburg
(25 miles [40.2 km] to the east)
- Crow Creek City ‑ Historic
(26 miles [41.8 km] to the southeast)
- Crow Creek City is located in Broadwater County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Crow Creek City
- Townsend
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the east)
- Lewis and Clark County
- The following are listed by their distance from Portal, with the one closest to Portal listed first.
- Rimini ‑ Historic
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
- Rimini is located in Lewis and Clark County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rimini
- Park City
(14 miles [22.5 km] to the north)
- Park City is located in Lewis and Clark County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Park City
- Helena
(18 miles [29 km] to the north)
- Helena is located in Lewis and Clark County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helena
- Population from the 2020 Census: 33,737 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Helena <1>
- Frontier Town
(18 miles [29 km] to the northwest)
- Frontier Town is located in Lewis and Clark County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Frontier Town
- Fort Harrison
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- East Helena
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
- Austin
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the north)
- Austin is located in Lewis and Clark County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Austin
- Birdseye
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the north)
- Birdseye is located in Lewis and Clark County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Birdseye
- Silver City
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the north)
- Silver City is located in Lewis and Clark County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Silver City
- Marysville ‑ Historic
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the north)
- Cavetown
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the northeast)
- Cavetown is located in Lewis and Clark County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Cavetown
- Powell County
- The following are listed by their distance from Portal, with the one closest to Portal listed first.
- Elliston
(21 miles [33.8 km] to the northwest)
- Blossburg
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the northwest)
- Blossburg is located in Powell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Blossburg
- Emery ‑ Historic
(22 miles [35.4 km] to the west)
- Emery is located in Powell County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Emery
- Avon
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the northwest)
- Deer Lodge
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the west)
- Silver Bow County
- The following are listed by their distance from Portal, with the one closest to Portal listed first.
- North Walkerville ‑ Historic
(28 miles [45.1 km] to the southwest)
- North Walkerville is located in Silver Bow County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for North Walkerville
- Walkerville
(29 miles [46.7 km] to the southwest)
- Butte
(30 miles [48.3 km] to the southwest)
For an expanded list of the communities that are closest to Portal, see our County-by-County Page for Portal.
Cemeteries Near Portal ...
Below are cemeteries that are in the vicinity of Portal.
This is a new section and is likely to have errors. If you find an error, such as a missing cemetery or we have the wrong name, please let us know. If you know of them, we would also appreciate learning about previous or alternate names.
Although we don't have the information ourselves, if you need information about a burial or interment, photos, transcripts, how to contact the cemetery or local authorities, please visit our list of websites on our Genealogy Helper Page for Portal - one of the links might be able to help.
If not found below, our Cemetery List for Portal covers a larger area, with the cemeteries listed in alphabetical order.
The following cemeteries are listed based on their distance from Portal, with the one closest to Portal listed first.
- Jefferson City Cemetery
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Boulder Cemetery
(6 miles [9.7 km] to the south)
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Boulder Cemetery
- To give a relative sense of its location, the Boulder Cemetery is a large cemetery that is located outside and to the northeast of Boulder.
- The Boulder Cemetery has also been known as:
- Boulder Cemetery
- Boulder Valley Cemetery
- Jump to Find-A-Grave: FG ID #20781 <2>
- Elkhorn Cemetery
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- St. John The Evangelist Catholic Church Cemetery
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southeast)
- Turner Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the northeast)
- Benton Ave. Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the north)
- Calvary Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the north)
- Montana State Veterans Cemetery
(18 miles [29 km] to the north)
- Home of Peace Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- Ft. William Henry Harrison Cemetery
(19 miles [30.6 km] to the north)
- St. Anns Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
- Serbian Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
- Continue List (22 more) ...
- East Helena Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the northeast)
- Resurrection Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
- Lewis & Clark County Poor Farm Cemetery
(20 miles [32.2 km] to the north)
Nearby Communities in 1895 ...
We've built the following list with information that came from an Atlas published by Rand McNally in 1895. The Atlas had details such as the population of the community (which appears to have come from the 1890 Census) and whether there was a post office and/or railroad service available. We also indicate if the community no longer exists and is now historic.<3>
The Rand McNally Atlas shows that in 1895, Portal had railroad service and no post office.
These communities are listed based on their distance from Portal, with the one closest to Portal listed first.
- Amazon
(Less than 2 miles to the southeast)
- Amazon is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Amazon
- Wickes ‑ Historic
(Less than 2 miles to the northeast)
- Wickes is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Wickes
- Comet ‑ Historic
(3 miles [4.8 km] to the southwest)
- Comet is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Comet
- Comet has also been known as:
- High Ore
- Corbin
(4 miles [6.4 km] to the northeast)
- Corbin is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Corbin
- Jefferson City
(5 miles [8 km] to the northeast)
- Boulder
(7 miles [11.3 km] to the south)
- Basin
(8 miles [12.9 km] to the southwest)
- Elkhorn
(9 miles [14.5 km] to the southeast)
- Elkhorn is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elkhorn
- Alhambra
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Alhambra is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Alhambra
- Clancy
(10 miles [16.1 km] to the northeast)
- Bernice
(11 miles [17.7 km] to the southwest)
- Bernice is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Bernice
- Rimini ‑ Historic
(12 miles [19.3 km] to the northwest)
- Rimini is located in Lewis and Clark County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Rimini
- Continue List (16 more) ...
- Elk Park
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the southwest)
- Elk Park is located in Jefferson County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Elk Park
- Montana City
(16 miles [25.7 km] to the northeast)
- Helena
(18 miles [29 km] to the north)
- Helena is located in Lewis and Clark County
- Jump to our Gazetteer entry for Helena
- Population from the 2020 Census: 33,737 people
- Jump to TripAdvisor's Tourism page for Helena <1>
We've also created an expanded list of communities that existed in the 1890's and were located in the area around Portal. See our List of 1890's Communities around Portal.
Newspapers Published in Portal ...
An ongoing effort between the Library of Congress and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has resulted in the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).
To share their results, the partnership has created the Chronicling America website. The goal of this partnership is to assemble a database about the current and historic newspapers of the United States. This includes a growing collection of scanned images from selected papers. All of it available to the public on their website.
Using information that we've taken from the Chronicling America website, we've identified 75 newspapers that have been published in the area around Portal.
Although we're unaware of any newspapers that were published in the immediate area of Portal, there are papers which were published within 30 miles [48.3 km]<4>. A list of those papers, sorted by paper name, can be found on the Extended Newspaper List for Portal.
Websites to Help With Your Genealogy Research ...
When we do our genealogical research, we like to start with the websites from Cyndi's List, FamilySearch and Genealogy Trails. These helpful websites offer the information directly or else point to where you can find it. Their information is open to everyone.
To help you get started, the following links will take you to the pages that are relevant to Portal:
- Websites specific to Montana
- Pages specific to Jefferson County
- Genealogy information for nearby counties
- Broadwater County
- Lewis and Clark County
- Powell County
- Silver Bow County
- Cemetery Information and Directories for Montana
Footnotes ...
| <1> | While we're fans and frequent users of TripAdvisor, you should know that we're also members of the TripAdvisor affiliate program. |
| <2> | The Find-a-Grave website is an excellent research tool with information about a cemetery's location and interments. They also offer a forum for their members which can provide additional help. More information about Find-a-Grave can be found on their website: findagrave.com. |
| <3> | We use the term 'Historic' broadly and it generally means that the community no longer exists. However, it can also mean that the community might still exist, but was significantly larger or had a more 'official' existence in the past than it does now. Unfortunately our sources of data have proven to be unreliable. If you can provide us with more specific information about Portal, please let us know so that we can improve our accuracy. |
| <4> | Our distances are not driving distances, but are calculated as a 'straight-line' (or point-to-point) distance. A straight line distance ignores things like rivers, canyons, lakes, et cetera - it's truly a line from Point A (ie- Portal) to Point B. In other words: 'As the crow flies'. |